Our garden - 2012

We've been trying to grow some food for ourselves for a few years now and this year is really exciting because for the first time it's working! Yes there have been some trip-ups, but overall it's going really well! Warning, this is a very pic heavy post!!!

Three 'columnar' apple trees. These work well in pots and the apples grow right on the trunk! The middle one we inherited with the house and had no idea what it was, so it wasn't pruned right, but it produces a few little apples already!

My "herb" garden

The word "herb" is in quotes because as you can see... not much there. Darn potato bugs keep eating my sprouts :/ There should be, eventually; basil, parsley, sage, chamomile, and the chives and stevia you see already

Raspberry and Marionberry. That big mass is all one raspberry plant and we harvest at least 1/2 pint a day. There are 4 more raspberry plants and two marionberry in the pots

Blueberry 'bushes'. Not sure what we're doing wrong with these guys, but we get about ten berries per plant each year. This year we gave them coffee grounds and a pine branch mulch in hopes that would help...

Three potato plants. Next year there will be edible flowers in the tires and boxes for potatoes :)

First set of raised beds. From the bottom of the pic; two rows of carrots, two rows of onions, back box has potatoes and snap peas.

Second set of raised beds; we already harvested radishes from here. There is little bitty baby chard, and beets in the first three rows, onions in the back row, potatoes and snap peas in the back bed (that clay pot is my Beetle's experiment, lol)

Third set of raised beds; beets, carrots, and chard in the first three rows, one tomato plant and one sorrel in the back row. Back bed has potatoes and snap peas.

Dwarf peach tree. This is beetle's tree, it's supposed to get to be about 4ft tall with pink blossoms. She can't wait!

From left to right: White currant, blueberry, 5 red huckleberry plants

The back of this bed is still a mess... We haven't had the heart to pull that poor sickly rhodie! In the front there are 6 evergreen huckleberry bushes (only 5 pictured)

Our sad little teeny cranberry plants

Strawberry patch part 2 Plus a blueberry bush that looks like two sticks because the squirrels attacked it *sigh* (try to ignore all the weeding that desperately needs doing, ok?)

Three peppermint plants + a stevia plant - these aren't doing so hot here... We're hoping they're putting all their energy into roots... lol

Strawberry patch part 1 plus pole beans you can't see yet :)

Four tomato plants. We are not the most amazing tomato growers I've found. Next year we will wait a bit longer and buy larger plants from the farmer's market and see if that helps!

One of our healthier plants. They all have blossoms now, they're just still really small plants...

Our lettuce gutter garden

I planted these really close figuring it'd be easy to thin and we could eat the thinings in the meantime... now I just need to do that and hope the rest fill out into heads of lettuce!

These pictures are actually a couple weeks old so I'll need to get some more taken ASAP to show how much has changed! (including adding 2 more tomato plants from the farmer's market).

Here is a summary of what we are growing this year:

Lettuce

Tomatoes (7 plants)

Strawberries (2 patches)

Peppermint

Stevia

Lavender (not pictured)

Roses (not pictured)

Cranberries (3 baby plants)

Evergreen huckleberries (6 plants)

Red huckleberries (6 plants- 1 not pictured)

Salmon berry (still just a root basically :)

White currant

Blueberry (4 plants)

Swiss chard

Beets

Carrots

Onions

Sorrel

Potatoes (approx 15 plants)

Raspberry (5 plants)

Marionberry (2 plants)

Dwarf peach tree

Columnar apple tree (3)

Basil

Parsley

Chamomile

Sage

CSA 2012, week 3

Hooray hooray for CSA. Better late than never eh? Someday I'll manage to get this post done on Sunday nights... Anyway... You see that bag right there? It's one of those giant Costco reusable bags. FULL of produce. Ahhh. Heaven. So what's in there you ask?

CSA "Full Share" Items:
1 bunch swiss chard

1 bunch collard greens

2 bunches beets

1 bunch turnips

2 pints strawberries

huge bag of carrots

2 1/2lb bags of braising greens

1 bunch basil 

1 bunch fennel

1 bunch red onions

CSA "Fruit Share" items:

Ranier cherries 

Bing cherries

Sour cherries

Apricots

Extras I purchased:

1 full flat of strawberries

1 bunch garlic

1 pint mushrooms

1 bunch swiss chard (because 1 is never enough around here!)

1 pint blue berries

2lbs apples

1 Tomato plant (a huge beautiful patio tomato already potted with tomatoes on it and a million blossoms for $8!!)

Here's my plan for the score:

Full share:

1 bunch swiss chard - chard saute over rice

1 bunch collard greens - mixed with braising greens

2 bunches beets - roast with carrots and onions and kohlrabi from last week

1 bunch turnips - turnip mashed potatoes (the girls LOVE these)

2 pints strawberries - eat

huge bag of carrots - eat, roast, freeze, soup

2 1/2lb bags of braising greens - braising 2 separate nights (had them Sunday night)

1 bunch basil  - tomato basil pizza and turnip and basil pesto

1 bunch fennel - ? Anyone have good ideas for this?

1 bunch red onions - get used in cooking and salads

1 bag shelling peas - eat (ate as a snack, girls loved shelling them)

3 ears corn - cook in oven to go with mashed potatoes

 

Fruit share:

Ranier cherries - eat

Bing cherries - eat

Sour cherries - dehydrate and freeze

Apricots - eat, maybe fruit leather

Extras I purchased:

1 full flat of strawberries - freeze

1 bunch garlic - used in cooking throughout the week

1 pint mushrooms - eat

1 bunch swiss chard (because 1 is never enough around here!) - part of saute

1 pint blue berries - eat (girls ate them before we got home, along with plenty of other fruit)

2lbs apples- Hubby's lunches, girls' snacks

And my meal plan:

Monday - Tomato basil pizza on the grill

Tuesday - fend for yourself night :) (Hubby ate dinner at a friend's, girls had strawberry smoothies)

                lunch = leftovers + fresh fruit

Wednesday -Swiss chard sauteed with garlic and almonds over rice

                  Lunch out with friends/family

Thursday - steamed greens with curried sun butter sauce over rice

Friday - roasted root veggies and braised greens

Saturday - corn and turnip mashed potatoes with bbq tempeh

Sunday - "leftover soup" and salad with lettuce from our garden

Laundry detergent

We're trying a new laundry detergent out. Our old one seemed to work fine for a long time, but lately our clothes just aren't coming clean and I'm noticing a lot of oil build up... so we're trying a different recipe. Our old one was from Bonzai Aphrodite. The new one we made today and will be trying out is from another favorite blogger SouleMama (Hmm, maybe I need a cool nick name? Hehe). I should take pictures... *sigh*

Anyway, I think a key point to add in here is that everyone's water is a bit different. The kind of dirty your clothes get is different, so different people will need different detergents. If the first one you try doesn't work out, don't give up! And don't (like me) be so loyal to a recipe that you wait forever to try something new.
 

I'll be sure to update and let you know how the new detergent works!

Preventing food waste part 2

Since I wrote my last post on preventing food waste I've come up with a couple more solutions that are working well for us.

1. Dehydrating greens that you won't get to right away

We dehydrate them and then grind them into a powder to use for smoothies, but you can also add the dehydrated greens to soups later. See more about dehydrating greens here and here.

Check out that amazing color!

Two jars of pesto (at least four meals) from what would have been compost!

2. Pesto!

Did you know you can make pesto with any edible greens? Like radish and turnip greens? I didn't either, but now that I do you can bet I'll be making pesto just about every week. I looove pesto. The great thing is that pesto freezes really well, and you can freeze it in a mason jar! I started with radish greens using the recipe here as a guide. I used some nutritional yeast instead of cheese, almonds for the nuts, and a dash of lemon juice instead of zest because I was feeling lazy :) It turned out surprisingly well! I followed that up with a double batch of turnip green pesto. I'm hooked! For me it was a jar per bunch of greens. Now I'm hoping I'll have more edible greens in my CSA next week!

CSA 2012: Week 1

Excuse the picture... I think I've mentioned I'm no photographer!

Okay so this is technically our second week, but the first week totally snuck up on me and I just wasn't prepared. For those of you who aren't familiar with the idea of a CSA it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The basic idea is that you commit to buy food from a farm you like, and pay them in advance. This helps them buy seeds, supplies, etc. In exchange you get really amazing produce and a much closer connection to the food you are eating! I love getting to know the farmers who grow my food, being able to visit the farm, and getting a great deal on delicious organic food at the same time!

Sooo... here's what we got this week (all organic):

1/2lb Mixed salad greens

1/2lb Baby spinach

1lb Fava beans

1 Head broccoli

1 Bunch parsley

1 Bunch golden beets

1 Bunch kale

1 Bunch radish

1lb Onions

2 Bunches turnips

2 Pints strawberries

2 Bunches garlic scapes

I bought in addition:

2lbs Apples

1 Pint raspberries 

1 Bunch garlic

1 Pint mushrooms

1/2 Flat strawberries

First time at the market this year (yes, last week), and so excited!

Ahhh, the farmers market... How I adore market season. I could easily spend my whole grocery budget at the market, all the beautiful produce just beckons me... I guess there are worse afflictions ;)

Here's what I plan to do with this week's haul:

1/2lb Mixed salad greens  -  Um... Salads. Heh.

1/2lb Baby spinach  -  Either mixed in with the greens, or in smoothies (and here I should mention I still have about 2lbs of salad greens left from a party last week. Do not despair, they will ALL get eaten.)

1lb Fava beans  -  roasted in the oven. Recipe to be listed below.

1 Head broccoli  -  part of beet stir fry

1 Bunch parsley  -  dried and jarred for use throughout the coming weeks (I put parsley in just about everything- why not?)

1 Bunch golden beets  -  beet stir fry (a family favorite!), greens dehydrated and made into powder

1 Bunch kale  -  kale chips or dehydrated for greens powder

1 Bunch radish  -  green bean and radish salad, greens made into pesto

1lb Onions  -  used in cooking throughout the week (I put onions in everything too, hehe)

2 Bunches turnips  -  turnip mashed potatoes

2 Pints strawberries  -  the girls ate them already, along with a pint grandma gave them... and two bags of frozen fruit... and a pound of apricots, and... well you get the picture... we go through a lot of fruit...

2 Bunches garlic scapes  -  went into double garlic soup

Tiny Bubbles, one of my sweet berry munchers.

I bought in addition:

2lbs Apples  -  lunches/snacks

1 Pint raspberries  -  girls ate at the market

1 Bunch garlic  -  to be used in cooking throughout the week and in pesto

1 Pint mushrooms  -  snacks, pizza toppings

1/2 Flat strawberries  -  snacks, freeze

So, here is our meal plan for the week:

Sunday (market day) - Double garlic soup w/garlic bread (Um, we like garlic a bit), and salad

Monday  (grocery shopping day) - GF/Vegan pizza w/mushrooms and olives; Giant salads

Tuesday - Lunch: Salmon salad sandwiches on GF/Vegan sourdough and apples; Dinner: Baked organic brown rice pasta with giant salads

Wednesday - Lunch: Fried rice and salad; Dinner: Beet stir fry over organic brown basmati rice

Thursday - Radish and green bean salad with organic sprouted wild rice and lentil pilaf

Friday - Tacos and salad

Saturday - BBQ Tempeh, Turnip mashed potatoes, roasted fava beans

(would you believe that while writing this meal plan I really felt like I needed more produce?... see? Addict.)

*T/W is my family's "weekend" so there are lunch plans as well. The rest of the week we eat leftovers or mess tray meals.

Recipes:

Double Garlic Soup 

Radish Leaf Pesto 

Green bean and Radish Salad

Turnip Mashed Potatoes

*We rarely follow recipes exactly, mostly due to food allergy concerns. There is a lot of swapping regular milk for hemp milk, etc. Don't ever be afraid to tweak a recipe to fit your needs!

Roasted Bell Fava Beans (recipe provided with our CSA share by Garden Treasure organic farm)

Oven at 425f. Wash and dry the pods. Strew them in a baking pan large enough to hold them in a single layer (crowding is fine). Splurt some olive oil and goosh the pods until they are all shiny all over. Pop 'em in the oven for 25 minutes, remembering to give a stir halfway through.

Sprinkle nice salt over the cooked pods. Let cool just a bit, so you can strip off the pods one at a time. You are ready to eat.

(You can see how fun these guys are- check out the wording in their recipe!)

Green garlic and scapes sauteing for double garlic soup

If you're in the Seattle area and looking for a great CSA to be a part of, I highly recommend Garden Treasures Organic Farm!!

6 bags of organic cereal for $6.15

Not one of the most amazing deals you'll ever see, but a good one that saved my family some cash. It's super easy too. Just create a (free) vitacost account here, and you'll get an email with a code for $10 off your order. You can order whatever you'd like, they have a good selection of gluten free items as well as vitamins, etc. 

Shipping is $4.99 or free on orders over $49. 

6 bags Organic Puffed Rice Cereal (Tiny's fave)  -  $1.86ea  -  $11.16

$10 sign up credit  -  $10

Flat rate shipping  -  $4.99

Total  =  $6.15 or approx $1.03/bag




(*Disclaimer: This is a referral link. If you sign up and purchase through this link I will receive a $10 credit too. My baby thanks you for keeping her in good supply of rice puffs!)

Blessings

Blessings are important to me. Sending thankfulness and kindness and love into the universe and asking for the same in return. It's a lovely thing. However we are not the most, um, religious family. Hubby is agnostic and I consider myself christian, but I have a unique relationship with God that not all Christians understand. Where this gets difficult is in raising our children- what do we teach them?

For now we have decided to teach them lots of things, to read mythology and folk tales from all different cultures and faiths along with bible stories. I'm sure it will get more complicated as the girls get older, but for now it works. So how do we incorporate blessings? Well, we keep them simple... 

My poor Bug's cheeks were chapped in this picture- they're fine now :)

Bedtime Blessing

Bless the moon and bless the stars

Bless those near and bless those far

Bless our family, and our friends

Bless the day from start, to end.

Bless the water, earth, and air

Bless God's creatures everywhere

And now that I lay me down to bed

Bless me to Lord, toes, to head.

This was written on a sleepless night when the bug was little, loosely based on a book we'd been reading. Bug loves it and has been able to say itself for a long time now (she'll be three in march).

They'll thank me for these pictures someday... or not ;)

Meal Time Blessing

Now we join our hands, and with our hands our hearts, and take a moment to be thankful (deep breath). 

This was put together after reading through 'Seven times the sun' for the thousandth time and not finding anything we could all agree on. I'd been searching for a meal blessing for the longest time, (Lilia was about two and a half when I decided on this), and just couldn't find anything 'right'. This is. Lilia says it for us at the table while we hold hands and it is perfect.